Man! I must say, I wasn't expecting to write to you, my readers, so soon, but can I just say that what a relief it is not to be on the college hunt anymore? Whew!

With all this time that has opened up in the evenings, what is a fella to do? Well, you know me, I always have hobbies waiting out in the wings, ready to fill the void :-) In this case, I FINALLY picked up my novel again, after months of being off the job. Today has been very productive, although I'll admit that it has taken quite a while tonight to get the juices flowing. That, and the girl next to me at the coffee shop is a bit distracting ;-) but hey, back to the book!

I've spent a good chunk of the evening rereading all my notes, charts, outlines, and rough drafts. First, I just have to say, this thing is a lot better than I remembered. I can't wait to share it! I just hope the details flow as freely as they did before, as it has been a while. Who cares, it's fiction, I can just make up stuff right? That's part of the creative process haha.

Well, today has been pretty productive so far, but I'm on a short break for now. I thought while I was taking it easy, I'd post one of my writing exercises I found. If you can believe it (I'm sure you can), I bought a book on writing a book a while back, which I have since given up reading. However, one of the cool exercises that it suggested was writing down 100 things that you love, and then using those in your novel, since you tend to write a lot more passionately about the things you love.

So what are my 100 things? Here you go, enjoy!

1.snow

2.road trips

3.exploring

4.In-n-Out

5.hiking

6.biking

7.telling stories

8.being awkward

9.sarcasm

10.being on time/schedule

11.finishing a project

12.Michigan/Detroit

13.thunderstorms, rain

14.getting packages

15.shopping

16.computers

17.fixing stuff

18.manual labor

19.clocks

20.road signs

21.traffic maps

22.trying something new

23.Frisbee

24.Pandora

25.fish/coral

26.doing stuff for people

27.gadgets

28.spies

29.modern history

30.short lines

31.rap/techno music

32.errands

33.being an early bird

34.having good luck

35.meeting people randomly

36.Coney Island

37.my beagle, Chase

38.being green

39.hanging out with friends

40.guilding circuits

41.figuring it out

42.blogging

43.impulse buying

44.fortune cookies

45.sushi

46.fall

47.Black Friday

48.giving advice

49.Craigslist

50.cleaning

51.navigating

52.singing in the car

53.multitasking

54.flip-flops

55.jeans

56.getting a deal

57.pulling a prank

58.being sorry

59.learning new things

60.accents

61.cars

62.fog

63.change

64.random math

65.a quiet landscape

66.taking pictures

67.seeing my family

68.seeing old friends

69.speeding (a little)

70.tools

71.avocados

72.California

73.binary

74.cooking a good meal

75.giving gifts

76.compliments

77.grilling

78.socials / get-togethers (not parties)

79.black

80.my iPod

81.the Internet

82.technology

83.blue eyes

84.being a leader

85.making decisions

86.being exhausted

87.other cultures

88.being cozy on a cold day

89.cutting grass

90.Linux

91.Sudoku

92.news

93.a cool breeze

94.being surprised

95.my grandma’s chicken soup

96.picking blueberries

97.making movies

98.finding my way

99.driving

100. sea air

I hope you enjoyed reading this list as much as I did again tonight. I think there are some duplicates, but whatever. Some of these things are REALLY random haha.

Alright, enough break time, back to work! Not sure if I'll keep hanging out at the coffee shop or head back home to work on this, but I'm on a roll tonight. That and let's just say I'm not to motivated to move my seat at the moment lol.

Wow, that was a whirlwind week! Just got back from visiting the last 3 out of the 4 grad schools I applied to. Alright, so what's the verdict? Well, I definitely am glad I went, since it's that "gut feeling" that brought me to a great school like Cal Poly 5 years ago, and I think it is the most important part of choosing a school. Academics, rankings, blah blah blah...none of it means jack if you personally don't feel a school is right for you. That's why I went out of my way to travel to each place and meet with people. That and, well, it gave me an excuse to go on a mini vacation to 3 cool places!

Each of these schools is very different, but I decided that as a good engineer, I can't just decide the whole thing based on my instinct. Okay, well maybe like half of it is instinct. The other half? Pros and cons, data, and other analyses that I've written up and amassed over this trip.

So here we go. Before any of these schools graded me, I decided I would grade THEM, using some basic categories. Of course, I'm a push over as a teacher, so I gave out As and Bs only lol. Let's see how they fared, shall we?

UCSB

Campus Size

B

Cost

A

Housing

B

Program

B+

Research / Professors

A-

Facilities

B

People

B

Outdoor Activities

A

Surrounding Area / Environment / Weather

A

Commute

A

Being "Green"

A

Purdue

Campus Size

A

Cost

B

Housing

B-

Program

A

Research / Professors

B

Facilities

A

People

A-

Outdoor Activities

B

Surrounding Area / Environment / Weather

A-

Commute

B

Being "Green"

B-

Georgia Tech

Campus Size

B

Cost

A

Housing

B+

Program

A

Research / Professors

A-

Facilities

A

People

A

Outdoor Activities

B-

Surrounding Area / Environment / Weather

B-

Commute

B-

Being "Green"

A-

Washington

Campus Size

A

Cost

A-

Housing

A

Program

A-

Research / Professors

A

Facilities

A

People

A

Outdoor Activities

A-

Surrounding Area / Environment / Weather

A

Commute

A

Being "Green"

A

I know, I know, these categories could probably use a little explanation. Well hey, I have it all written out for myself, but I don't feel like writing it up here lol. If you look closely at all these grades, you can see UW was the top choice after the initial grade.

But who won the "gut feeling award"? Well, that one went to UW as well! The campus was absolutely beautiful, not mention Seattle is an awesome city. Yes, it rains, I know, but I was loving the 30 degree weather. Reminds me of home. I feel like having a little more weather will be a good thing. Of course, I can't exercise as much, but now that I'm outfitted to bike in the rain, I think I'll make due :-) I spent one day just exploring neighborhoods, and it was a blast! There are so many cool little places around town, not to mention the awesome U-District right by campus.

You know, it's funny, but in many ways I see Seattle as my SF. I mean there are TONS of hills, electric buses running on wires, and the city even has it's Castro district in West Capitol Hill. It's also great that it has that big city feel, but you can drive a few minutes and be out of town really fast. Finally, a chance to get my chance to live in a city and be within a few miles of hiking!

What if it's not quite for me? Well, I see this journey in my life as a two-year trial period. At the end of my grad school career, maybe I'll stay, maybe I'll move back to the Bay, who knows.

Ah, the Bay...in many ways I'm gonna miss it. All the great friends, roomies and connections I've made, I really have grown to love the area. However, it's always been a goal of mine to get my MS, and by golly I'm going to do it! I mean, this is the third year I've applied to colleges and my GRE scores are getting a little dusty, so I figured it was time to go.

Alright, alright, so the verdict is...

U-Dub!

So there you have it, the cat's outta the bag. I plan on moving to Seattle this fall and spending the next few years grabbing my MSEE and enjoying the rain :-P

What's next? Housing? Financial aid? I'm taking a rest! I've been working full tilt since I came back from Europe, writing essays, filling out apps, talking with professors and traveling. Frankly, I'm beat. I am so happy to just be complete with everything. Now I actually will have time to work on my circuit board hobby and even my book! Not to mention the celebrations that can now begin. Sweet :-)

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm amazed how much I can accomplish when I start churning my wheels. Europe...grad school...who know's what's next? I'm excited to see what new adventures come with grad school, and I'm excited to see what next big thing I take on.

Until next time folks, thanks for checking in, I will catch y'all later!

Are you going to grad school? So where will it be? What's my top choice? Etc, etc...

Well, it's no big secret that I am looking at grad schools, THAT question I can answer. As to all the other questions floating around about the big decision for this fall, those are going to just have to linger a little longer. Truth is, I really don't have a true ranking yet of the schools I've applied to. Sure, I've compared programs, housing, and other school info, but you really can't tell until you actually go there and "feel" that it's the right place. You know what I mean?

For instance, during my junior and senior year of high school, I visited colleges all over the US, from Virginia to Pennsylvania to California. I'll tell ya, I really had my doubts about Poly at first. I went through high school competing to be at the top, and I figured I just HAD to go to the #1 or #2 major school in the country in order to get a good education and a decent job. Well, after going to SLO and meeting Dr. Meyers (ah Len, I miss your stories of red and black trees) and seeing how nice of a campus and how dedicated they were to teaching you practical knowledge through their "Learn by Doing" attitude, I was determined that if I got in I'd go. That and it gave me a chance to escape from GP and all my competition, a stupid factor I know, but just WAIT until you hear some of my factors I have this time round :-) I got it, and westward went, and I've never regretted it!

Anyways, I learned how valuable visiting a place is and "feeling" like it's the right fit. So this time around, I'm doing it all over again! I'm super excited for next week, when I'll be travelling to West Lafayette, Atlanta and Seattle to visit all these places at once. Not only do I get to go on a cool trip to visit places all over the country, I'll FINALLY have that answer! Oh, and I got into GT, which is great! It feels really good to get accepted so early by the highest ranked school on my list (not that rankings are the only factor :-). Hopefully, after next week, I can give y'all a better answer to all those questions (that is, if you care :-P )

Alright, alright, I do have SOME idea of where I'd like to go, I'm the man with a plan, remember? It's just a little bit more fluid at the moment lol. I'd like to stay closer to the west coast, just because that's where I'd like to end up someday (not that I'm settling down yet lol), and it'd be easier to get a job out here if I was living here too. I'm really excited to see what UW has to offer; I really could see myself living in Seattle and what better way to start out there than going to school in the city?

What about California, it's the greatest place in the world right? Well, I do love the Bay Area, and it's going to be really hard to leave all my friends. However, I do feel it's time to move on. I feel like I do this every few years, pick up and move, which might not be the best, but I feel like now is the best time in my life to ship off since I'm still young. Maybe I'll be back; the home of greentech is here :-) UCSB would be the cheapest by far, but there's also the threat of budget cuts and hiked tuition. I guess we'll just have to see...

It's funny, thinking about how tough this choice could be between these 4, so I decided to come up with some really ridiculous tie breakers, just like my "get as far away from GP" rule for undergrad. So far, here are a few (in no particular order):

In a big city (always wanted to live in one to try it) - (+) for GT and UW

Has 4G coverage (stupid yes, but at least they're with it) - not sure yet, guessing (+) GT and UW again

There's a Panera (I like the UP2 deal, alright?) - all of em have one, so no tie breaker there

Is "green" (yea, it's just a buzzword, and hard to measure too) - guessing Cali will take the cake

Lots of biking and hiking potential - (-) on the cities, although Seattle should be nice

Has weather (defined as more than a "rainy" and "sunny" season) - (+) UW and Purdue, (-) on UCSB and I'm guessing since the ATL shuts down when it snows, GT might lose a point there

Does not have a > 90% male population (oh wait, you mean San Jose's not one of my cities?) - nevermind, I think any college will be an improvement :-)

And the list continues...

Hmm....well, you can probably tell how I'm slanting now, BUT I just need to force myself to wait until after the trip to call it. Oh, the silly ways we make "informed" decisions haha. To be honest, in the end it will be one tiny, unique experiences from this trip (or the trip to UCSB) that will ultimately make up my mind and dramatically shift my life for the next few years. Funny, huh?

Well until I make up my mind, enjoy your week and your Valentine's Day (I don't practice :-P) and stay tuned for updates from my college tour!

-StM

P.S. In case you were trying to guess the campuses in the photos above, they are (left to right, top to bottom): Purdue, GT, UCSB and UW. Goodnight!